Season 2: What's To Come...

So, season 1 is over and I hope you've enjoyed what you've read so far.


There are a number of questions left to be asked and I promise that they will be answered in season 2. If the first season was about asking the questions then the next season is about answering them. By the end of the next six stories the story of Caroline, Danny and the Doctor will be (more or less) complete.


Season 2 will differ also because each of the stories is about an aspect that is connected to each of our characters. The first season had more stand alone adventures, but, although the second season has stand alone stories, they are more tied to a character.


Before the start of the next batch of stories I will be posting a "Story So Far" which will get you up to speed if you've forgotten any of the important events that occurred. It will hopefully enable you to just go straight into the stories without having to struggle to remember things that happened 6 months or even a year ago.


So, what can we expect in season 2?


"Lost in Time" features Caroline stranded in 1901 and the Doctor and Danny in 1987.


"The Lighthouse" has the return of Aleena and our first proper visit to her lighthouse.


"Lockdown" is a story of people being killed by something sinister being broadcast by a pirate radio station.


"The Problem with Death" has a visit to Aleena's home world and a look at her own people.


"Special: The First Eleven" is our 50th anniversary story, featuring a bounty hunter travelling back to collect the first Eleven incarnations of the Doctor (remember, our Doctor ISN'T the 12th...it's never specified which number he is).


"The Story of the Ancestors" will be the big one and will take a huge, sweeping look at everything that has happened to Thornsby and the people directly involved with the ghostly Apparites, stitching together all the events that led up to "The Ghosts of Winter"


"Call of the Spirits" will bring the second season, and indeed the current storyline, to a close in climactic style as everyone's life is put on the line and are characters finds (hopefully) some resolutions.


So please stick with us and if you have any thoughts or even want to contribute, please contact us.

Character Wallpapers

Here are a couple of wallpapers I put together featuring, firstly, the Doctor and his companions and then one featuring some important recurring characters from Season 1 (and also the upcoming season 2)

Click for even bigger versions.

The Doctor (Richard O'Brien), Danny Lennon (Seth Gabel), Caroline Parker (Mary Lynn Rajskub)

From left to right: The Apparites, The General (Liam Neeson), Magnus Blackmore (David Anders), Aleena (Claire Danes), Ivy Coldstone (Rebecca Mader), Matthew Cole (Henry Ian Cusick), Jayne Kennedy (Anna Torv)

The Vanishing Man, Chapter 13 (Season 1 Finale)

Emily and Ethan had left the Doctor to return to the basement. When they got down there it was in darkness. There was a green glow coming from the generator room and Emily panicked.

“Ethan, they’ve opened the panel.”

Ethan, who was still distraught at the destruction of the drones, snarled and headed towards the light, closely followed by Emily.

When they rounded the corner they found no sign of the woman, June. But Blackmore was still there. The panel to the core of the machine was open and Blackmore was tied up, right next to it, with the rope wrapped around one of the many large pipes coming out of the machine.

“She said my body was flooded with time energy,” he said, sweat dripping off his face.

“Untie him!” snapped Emily.

Ethan walked over to Blackmore but he shook his head. “No time. She’s put a gun inside the core. It’s powering up and is going to explode. The explosion will take out me as well and cause a huge explosion.”

“We have to stop it,” said Emily.

“There’s no time!” said Blackmore. “If I were you I’d get out now.”

“But what about you?”

“Leave me,” said Blackmore. “It’s all I deserve.”

Ethan peered into hatch that exposed the core. “We’ve got about a minute. We need to get out of here now”

And with that they turned and ran, leaving Blackmore still tied to the machine and dripping with sweat. He held back the tears as he angled his head towards the glow of the crystals.

“I’m sorry,” he said sadly. “I’m so sorry, Annie.”

The gun was glowing orange, the power building up to burst.

“It was for the good of the Human race,” he sobbed.

And then the gun exploded.

The explosion was massive. The entire machine, with Blackmore attached to it, blew to a million different pieces in a green cloud of light. The room shook with the force of an earthquake and anything left in the room evaporated.




Up above the Doctor and co were standing beside the TARDIS when the air shimmered and wavered. And then, as if they had always been there, people appeared. Normal, real-life people. Human beings starting out a new morning and getting ready to travel across the world to holiday destinations or simply going home.

The Doctor smiled. “June did it.”

Matthew looked back at the sky link which was no longer in pieces. “It’s fixed.”

“It only happened in that pocket universe. Inside the Shroud,” said the Doctor, thoughtfully.

June appeared from around the corner, grinning.

“Where’s Blackmore?”

“Sacrificed himself,” said June. “He was a very brave man.”

The Doctor looked at her suspiciously. “Are you sure?”

“Quite sure. It was for the good of the Human race.”

“You know,” said the Doctor, “one day I’m going to have to pay Eyeglass a little visit. Especially if you have time travel technology.”

“I’m sure the General will be only too happy to meet you, Doctor,” said June, with a look that was almost inviting him to come along.

“One day,” he said quietly.

Ethan and Emily came bounding around the corner. They saw June and the Doctor and froze. June made a move for something in her pocket. It was a small, metal, pebble-like device. She threw it at the siblings and a blue force field appeared around them.

They snarled and hissed, trying to escape their prison, but to no avail.

“I’ll take these two back,” said June.

“They need putting back into the vortex,” said the Doctor. “Their natural habitat.”

“So they can escape again? Not a chance. The General will be very interested in meeting these two.”

“June…”

“No, Doctor. You’re not in charge of this one.”

She then pulled out another device from her pocket and pressed a button. The air rippled in front of June, Ethan and Emily and a large, black vortex materialised before them.

Emily and her brother looked longingly into the blackness, transfixed by it.

“That’s a time corridor,” said the Doctor to Caroline, Matthew and Danny.

“A direct link back to the fleet,” she said, smiling. “I really must be going.”

“Stay out of this time,” said the Doctor, angrily.

“Oh, don’t worry. The General doesn’t tend to mess around with time, and we certainly don’t advertise our capabilities. The future is what we want. The future is ours.”

“Goodbye Danny,” smiled Emily. “I hope you find what you’re looking for one day.”

Danny frowned and then nodded to her.

June pressed another button on the device and she, Ethan and Emily were drawn into the time corridor. And then, with a flash, they were gone and the corridor had sealed.

Danny looked around him. “Did nobody else see that?” he said, indicating the few people that were bustling into the airport from the sky link.

“I think the Shroud is still hiding us a little. It’ll wear off in a little while though.” The Doctor clapped his hands together. “And now for you, Mr Cole.”




The Doctor had taken the TARDIS to the outskirts of Manchester to the house where Ethan and Emily had been living for the past few days. He had found the bodies of the original residents of the house locked in a shed at the bottom of the garden and had informed the relevant authorities

Matthew Cole had had no problem in leaving the airport now. The Doctor reasoned that he had been trapped there because he had was tethered there, but now the rest of him had arrived - I.E. The Doctor - he was now free to go. As long as he was with the Doctor. Which led to a new problem.

The Doctor had explained the Cole’s situation to Caroline and Danny, who had not quite gotten their heads around it, but had promised to try and understand.

Now the four of them were stood in the TARDIS, as it span through the vortex.

“Do you understand what we have to do?” asked the Doctor.

“I might not like it, but I understand,” said Matthew solemnly.

“If there was any other way…”

“I know,” replied Matthew, holding his hands up. “I just…I don’t know. I feel real.”

“You are real,” said the Doctor, “but you’re me. You’re what I will become and I can’t let you go out into the world again. I don’t know what would happen to you. You need to stay here, in the TARDIS.”

“In suspended animation?”

“Yes. In suspended animation.”

“Is it really necessary?” asked Caroline, unsure of whether locking Matthew away would help.

“Until I can get back to Aleena and attempt to ignite the regeneration process, then, yes, this is the only way.”

“But why not go back now?” asked Danny.

“Because, Danny, I have a promise to make.”

“Promise?” asked Caroline.

“Yes. I told you that I’d take you to Thornsby and find answers, and that’s exactly where we’re going. Thornsby 2012.”

“But the TARDIS is refusing to take us back there!” said Caroline, getting slightly worried that he might tear the ship apart.

“This is my time machine and I’m in control of it. And by hook or by crook we will get back to Thornsby.”


Later...

Matthew Cole lay in the booth, waiting to be put into suspended animation. He felt sad and he felt lost. He felt like he was nothing but a tool. A device for the Doctor. He felt real and he felt as if he should have his own life. His own chance at a life. He understood what the Doctor needed to do, but it wasn’t fair. He was a real person with real emotions and real desires…and if there was a chance to carry on living, he would take that chance.


EPILOGUE


2004


Adrian Lennon locked the door of his parents house and crossed over the road towards the park. It was still pretty early and the grass was covered in frost. He took the winding path through the park and past the pond.

All he could think about was making sure he hit his target score at college today. He was not a big fan of algebra, but he had been studying for weeks and weeks for this and he certainly wasn’t going to let algebra let him down.

“An Open Letter To NYC” by the Beastie Boys had just started on his Discman when it suddenly went dead. He frowned and pulled it out of his pocket. He cursed himself for not bringing any spare batteries. He took the batteries out and tossed them in the park bin, taking the earphones out and putting the whole lot into his bag.

He carried on his walk towards college. He checked his watch and realised he was running late so decided to cut across the grass and through a cluster of bushes.

As he made his way through the bushes he snagged his jacket on a twig. He turned to untangle himself and when he turned back, standing there before him was a very faint, very shadowy shape. He jumped and almost fell back into the bush he had just un-snagged himself from.

He wasn’t entirely sure, but the thing seemed to look as though it was wearing some kind of cloak. The more he looked at it, the more it began to fade into view. And Adrian was sure that he could see snow flakes coming from above it’s head.

It reached out a faint, shadowy arm towards him and Adrian could hear it speaking.

“Poor little Adrian…”




There was a gust of wind. All was silent. And Adrian was gone…




Underneath St. James’s church in the centre of Thornsby, banks of computer’s bleeped and a map of the town was shown on a large screen mounted on a stone wall. A dot was flashing in the area of the park and people were scrabbling around, checking readouts and trying to get an exact fix on the flashing dot.

A striking, strawberry-blonde haired woman entered the room, her hands on her hips. She was frowning and looking up at the flashing dot.

“Okay, okay, settle down everyone,” she said.

The room calmed noticeably.

“Margot, what’s happened?”

Margot crossed over to the woman. “Jayne, we had another bleed-through.”

Jayne let out a big sigh, almost as if she was annoyed with the woman. “I gathered that.”

“In the People’s Park area. Just for a minute.”

Jayne crossed over to the map on the screen and folded her arms. “Do we need to send in a clean up crew?”

“Not this time,” said Ben, looking up from the his own computer screen. “It faded back.”

“Then what’s this?” said Jayne, tapping on a red indicator on the screen.

Margot looked a little shifty and then cleared her throat. “It took someone.”

Jayne closed her eyes and sighed.

“There wasn’t enough warning,” said Margot desperately.

Jayne didn’t respond.

“If there was any way-”

Jayne interrupted, her voice stern. “What is our job here? What do we do?”

Nobody answered.

Jayne looked at all of them, surveying the entire room. “We look for signs. We look for signals. Anything that can help us to prevent people being taken.”

“To be fair,” said Ben, “we haven’t had a disappearance in two years.”

“Then why did that change today?!” said Jayne, almost shouting.

Ben shrunk back into his seat.

“It is our fault that this is happening,” she continued, “and we will stay here until the day that we can fix what we’ve done. They will come through, using any means they like. We all remember 1998, don’t we? We didn‘t even know about that until somebody else told us!”

She turned to leave and Margot grabbed her arm. “Jayne, we can send someone to look,” she said, almost a whisper.

“No,” said Jayne. “It’ll be too late now. But we need to be more careful, Margot. I feel there are worse days to come.”


THE END

The Vanishing Man, Chapter 12

The Doctor beamed when Caroline entered the room, followed by the woman - June - and the small drones. He ran over to her and hugged her tightly.

“Nice to see you too, Doc,” said Caroline. “What happened to you?”

The drone’s began to twitch nervously.

“Separate!” ordered Ethan.

“Don’t tell me what to do,” said the Doctor, looking down his nose at the old man. He turned back to Caroline. “Ran into a spot of bother. I’ll explain later.”

“This woman is unimportant,” said Ethan, to Emily.

“Who? June?” asked the Doctor. “Oh, I don’t think so. Are you unimportant, June?”

June raised her eyebrows at the Doctor and crossed over to Ethan and Emily. “My name is Corporal June Caster. I represent an Earth Empire company from the future called Eyeglass.”

“What?” said Magnus, trying to get to his feet. “I don’t understand.”

“I was sent here to clean up your mess,” said June, looking disdainfully at Blackmore.

“You are not a time sensitive,” said Ethan, eyeing the woman up and down.

“The patch,” smiled June, pulling a small, silver patch from the back of her neck. “It hides my normal life signs. You had no idea I was here.”

“June told me everything on our way down here,” said Caroline. “But what I don’t understand, Doctor, is why they haven’t done anything to us yet?”

Emily chuckled as she playfully sat down beside Blackmore and slapped him on the back.

“When you cook something, Caroline, you put it in the oven, don’t you?”

Caroline nodded…and then a look of realisation came across her face. “Oh, God.”

“This place is a hotbed of time energy. They leave us here to cook - or stew - whilst they sit back at their base on the outskirts, sharpening their knives.”

“And are we cooked yet?” asked Danny.

“You had to ask!” groaned Caroline.

“More or less,” grinned Ethan. “There’s just the anomaly missing.”

The Doctor crossed over to Ethan. “Matthew isn’t going anywhere with you.”

“He’s important to you, isn’t he?” asked Emily. “More than you let on.”

June crossed over to Blackmore and then looked up at the generator. “All this is academic anyway. I need to shut this thing down and take you two prisoner. The General would be interested in meeting you.”

The Doctor wandered over to June and leaned in to whisper to her. “All this Eyeglass thing aside, what do you need me to do?”

“Get everyone out of here. Lead those two away. I’ll shut this thing down.”

“And then we’ll talk,” said the Doctor.

“Of course,” grinned June.

The Doctor was suddenly grabbed from behind by Ethan. He was dragged back towards Danny and Caroline.

“Enough!” snapped Ethan. “We’re hungry.”

Emily brushed her hair out of her face and then proceeded to tie it back behind her head.

“You can’t be serious!” said Caroline.

Ethan and Emily just chuckled as the two of them pulled the Doctor’s head back, exposing his neck.

“Now Matthew!” shouted the Doctor.

From out the shadows, and taking the drones by surprise, Matthew Cole appeared, a baseball bat in hand. He whacked aside a couple of drones and then hit Ethan on his right thigh.

Ethan squealed in pain as he fell to the floor.

“I don’t normally like to use violence,” said the Doctor, patting Ethan on his arm, “but sometimes the ends justify the means. Sometimes. RUN!”

Caroline, Danny, Matthew and the Doctor ran for the exit and the bottom of the elevator. In the chaos, Emily and Ethan forgot about June and Blackmore and, with the drones in tow, they went after the fugitives.

Once they had left June turned to Blackmore. “Now to clean up your mess,” she said darkly.



Sometime ago…



Aleena stood outside the blue police box, her hands on her hips as she jiggled on the spot. Soon the Doctor emerged, looking a little despondent.

“What’s wrong?” asked Aleena.

“I went back to the airport,” said the Doctor, “but there’s nothing there. No signs, no indications. Nothing. If there was anything there, it’s either gone or hiding.”

Aleena let out a big sigh and then crossed over to him, rubbing him on his arm. “It’s alright,” said Aleena. “We’ll get to the bottom of it. I promise.”

The Doctor winced in pain and grabbed at his chest.

“Tablets! Tablets!” panicked Aleena, rummaging in her knapsack slung over her shoulder.

“I’ve got them,” said the Doctor, pulling out the tablet bottle and popping one into his mouth.

“Thank the Light,” she smiled. “They should help.”

“Thank you,” said the Doctor, smiling warmly. “Thank you for everything.”

“That’s okay,” said Aleena, smiling shyly. “All in a days work.”

“You didn’t have to help me though,” said the Doctor.

“I did. I wanted to help you. I think you’re fantastic.”

The Doctor could have sworn she blushed, but the blue pigmentation of her skin made it turn out purple.

“Can I come with you?” asked Aleena, suddenly and very quickly.

The Doctor smiled sadly. “I don’t think so.”

“Oh,” said Aleena, looking very hurt.

“It’s not you,” said the Doctor, crossing over to her, “but I’m not ready for anybody to come with me yet. Not when I’m in the state I’m in.”

“I understand,” said Aleena sadly.

“I need you here,” said the Doctor, placing his hands on her shoulders. “I need you to help me from the Lighthouse.”

Aleena swallowed her disappointment and smiled. “Then this is where I’ll stay. And I’ll help you. However much I can.” She suddenly realised something. “Do you have the recorder?”

“I do,” said the Doctor. “Every day I’ll record my progress and transmit the message to you.”

“You know it’d be easier if you just let me watch you from the Lighthouse.”

The Doctor shook his head. “No. I like my privacy.”

Aleena nodded in agreement. “And I respect your privacy. No more spying. I promise.”

The Doctor gave her a warm hug and then turned to go back to the TARDIS. “I’ll see you soon, Aleena. Take care.”

“I will Doctor,” she smiled sadly.

She watched as he closed the door and then the box disappeared in a gush of wind and a wheezing and groaning sound.

“Take care too,” she said sadly.



Now…



“How long do we have to keep running?” asked a breathless Caroline.

“Just a little longer,” said the Doctor. He turned to Matthew. “That’s right, isn’t it?”

“Yeah,” said Matthew, also out of breath.

They turned a corner onto the broken sky link where the familiar shape of the TARDIS was waiting. The door was already open and they all piled inside, slamming the door behind them.

Inside the Doctor collided with the console and pulled a few switches, turning the scanner on.

“Thank you for moving her,” said the Doctor.

Matthew nodded. “It came naturally,” he said, a little surprised with himself.

“So what do we do now?” asked Danny. “Because I’ve had enough of those drone things already.”

“Pass me the amplifier,” said the Doctor.

Matthew crossed over to the sofa and picked up a large, red device. A mass of circuits and wires held clumsily together with a hastily put together frame and a satellite dish on the end.

“And what’ll that thing do?” asked Caroline.

“Watch,” grinned the Doctor.

He took the amplifier off Matthew and made his way out of the TARDIS and back into the sky link where he stood with the amplifier aimed towards the drones.

Ethan and Emily calmly walked around the corner. Strangely, they moved almost identically to each other.

“What are you doing with that toy, Doctor?” asked Emily.

“Knocking out a few drones,” said the Doctor, activating it.

“No!” said Emily.

“You wanted to answer,” smiled the Doctor as waves of electricity rippled from the satellite dish on the end. Anything electrical in site - the lights, the floor lights, the information screens…and the drones - were immediately knocked out.

The remaining drones shook and spluttered and then fell to the floor with a loud crash.

“My drones!” cried Ethan, falling to his knees and cradling one of the fallen devices, almost like a baby.

Emily hissed and showed her teeth to the Doctor. “You may have stopped the drones, but you haven’t stopped us.”

“True,” said the Doctor, checking his watch, “but I suspect you’ll have a few other little problems to deal with momentarily.”

Emily frowned. And then remembered the two left in the generator room.




Blackmore watched the middle-aged woman edge around the generator, carefully checking circuits and switches. She looked like a cat, circling her pray, looking for the easiest way to kill.

“How did you get here?” asked Blackmore, turning his head to look back at her.

“It wasn’t hard to track you,” said June, tapping a small grate on the machine.

“That doesn’t answer my question,” said Blackmore. “Eyeglass don’t have time travel tech. The only reason I’m here is because of that damaged time ring from the Doctor.”

“You’re new to Eyeglass, aren’t you?”

Blackmore frowned. “Yes, but that doesn’t mean I’m not an expert.”

“The General has time travel capabilities. He just chooses not to use them. Only in the most dire emergencies.”

“So you actually used time travel to bring yourself back here.”

“Of course.” June looked up from the machine and smiled. “Poor Magnus. You’re so…out of touch with things. The General was eager to show you a lot.”

“And he still can when we get back.”

June shook her head. “No. No. Not after what you did to Annie.”

Blackmore thought back to what happened on Trixatin. Annie had been in the way of him and the circuit for the Shroud technology. He had shot her straight through the chest without remorse.

“I’ve changed since then,” said Blackmore.

“No you haven’t,” said June, returning to circling the machine. “You’re just the same, except you’re trapped and you’re scared.”

“I’m not scared.”

“Don’t lie, Magnus,” she said. “You killed that young girl. She was one of our best new agents. You just killed her and then you expect us to accept you back.”

“But you have to,” said Blackmore, realising where this was going.

“We don’t have to do anything.”

June finally located a panel and, using a device not unlike the Doctor’s sonic screwdriver, was able to unfasten it. Inside was a glowing hive of green crystals.

She smiled, the green glow casting an eerie look on her face.

“I came to this time,” she continued, “after we detected your time trace here. I was able to travel back a day or two before your arrival and install myself as the nurse.” She chuckled to herself. “And then, unfortunately, I ended up crossing over into that brother and sisters weird little half-dimension.” She looked at Blackmore and thought. “Surely you could have picked somewhere better than an ancient Earth airport.”

Blackmore wasn’t really listening. He was still worried and confused over what was going to happen to him. He couldn’t stay here, on Earth in 2003 and he certainly wasn’t going to go gallivanting off with the Doctor and his annoying little companions. He wanted to go back to the Eyeglass.

“Eyeglass is expanding ever further,” said June, kneeling down and untying Blackmore’s hands. “The General has put together a fleet of ships. We’re heading out into the cosmos to investigate planets and take their technology. We’re helping to expand the Human race beyond it’s confines.”

“I want to be a part of that,” said Blackmore with a half-worried smile.

“We don’t like traitors.”

“But I did it for the good of the Human race.”

“We still don’t like traitors,” said June. “Up!”

Blackmore got to his feet and he suddenly felt the barrel of a gun press into his lower back.

“What are you doing?” he asked.

“Inside that opening,” she said, indicating the crystals, “is the power core of this altered Shroud technology. If we destroy the core - the crystals - then this dimension collapses and we appear back in the real Manchester airport.”

“But it’ll tear whatever’s inside to pieces?”

“No,” laughed June. “This has been developed. Advanced beyond it’s original design. We’ll be safe inside. It’ll just…melt away.”

Blackmore peered at the crystals. “How do we blow them? Your gun?”

June struck Blackmore across the back of the head with the gun. He fell against the machine and grabbed the back of his head in pain. “What was that for?!”

“This gun will be used to destroy the crystals. You see, this gun used to belong to my little sister.”

“Oh…really?”

“Yes.” June knelt down in front of Blackmore and looked him right in the eyes. “We were a good twenty years apart, but she was still my sister. We found it lying near her when we went to collect her body from Trixatin.”

“Ah…”

June smiled. But it wasn’t a happy smile. “Took a while for those Dogs to let us have the body though. Mongrels! It seems fitting that Annie’s gun is the thing that kills you.”

“What? Me? Why?”

“The General gave me my orders. Take down the vampire’s Shroud and take out Blackmore.”

The Vanishing Man, Chapter 11

Caroline and June had located a hotel room deep into the complex. They had locked the door with a key card taken from the deserted reception and hidden in the large, en suit bathroom.

Caroline sat on the edge of the bath, deep in thought.

June, meanwhile, was sat on a towel on the floor, sipping a glass of water.

“There’s a kettle in the room if you want a cuppa,” said Caroline.

“No. We can’t risk going out there. Those thins will find us.”

“I’ve seen worse things than them,” said Caroline.

“What do you mean?”

“Ghosts, walking, talking dogs…all sorts. Those things out there are just…mild annoyances.”

June laughed. “Mild annoyances.”

“It’s true. We’ll get out of this, June,” said Caroline, giving her a smile. “I promise you.”

“This all seems very run of the mill to you,” said June.

Caroline hadn’t thought about it too often, but maybe she was getting settled into this life. The original reason for Caroline joining the Doctor was to find out some answers about herself, but now…that seemed to be furthest from her thoughts. She knew the Doctor was trying, but sometimes it didn’t feel enough.

“I come from a town called Thornsby,” she said to June, smiling as she remembered the place. “It’s nothing special. No one would miss it if it was wiped off the map, actually.” She closed her eyes. “Nobody but the people who live there.”

“It can’t be all that bad.”

“It’s not really,” said Caroline. “I guess it’s one of those towns that makes you angry with it if you live there, but…well, you wouldn’t want any other home. You can’t help but love the place.”

June smiled and rubbed the back of her neck. “My ex, Graham, always said that you can call merry hell out of your home town, but as soon as an outsider says something... That’s a big no-no.”

Caroline smiled. “He’s right.”

June rubbed the back of her neck again.

“Are you alright?” asked Caroline.

“Just an itch,” said June. “It’s been annoying me for about half an hour now.”

“Let me look.”

“I’m fine!” said June, shuffling away from Caroline slightly.

“Okay,” said Caroline. “Just thought I’d help, that’s all.”

“I’m fine,” said June again.

Caroline was about to get up and get herself a glass of water when there was an explosion from outside and the whole bathroom shook violently. Both women screamed as the glass in the shower cubicle shattered, spraying them both with tiny shards of glass.

“What was that?” asked June, shielding her face.

“They’ve found us,” said Caroline, pulling June to her feet and running towards the door.

They went into the main hotel room and floating in the shattered remains of the door were the robotic drones, each with their lasers aimed at the women.

“Now what?” asked June.

“I don’t know,” said Caroline, swallowing hard. “There’s no where to run.”




“Good evening!” beamed Blackmore as Danny was escorted into the generator room. He was tied up with his hands behind his back and one of the drones obediently floated from Blackmore to Ethan and Emily.

Danny did a double take when he saw the blonde-haired man sat crossed legged on the floor.

“Yes, it’s me,” sighed Blackmore.

“What are you doing here?” asked Danny.

“Long story,” said Blackmore. “I don’t quite understand it myself.”

“You were all brought here by us,” said Emily.

“Well that’s wrong for a start,” said Danny. “We came here because we detected strange signals.”

“You mean Matthew Cole?” asked Ethan.

“That’s the bloke,” said Danny. “We came because of him.”

“Yes. He’s an anomaly. He’s trapped here. We picked up the signals he was giving off and came to investigate.

“And you thought you’d set up camp?” came a familiar voice from back the way Ethan, Emily and Danny had come.

“Doctor!” said Danny, a little surprised at his own delight at seeing his bald-headed companion again.

“Good to see you, Danny,” smiled the Doctor. “I take it these two brought you here?”

“Do you know what they are?” asked Danny.

“The sonic screwdriver never lies,” said the Doctor, holding up the device. “Unless it’s deciding to be a screwdriver. They’re the stuff of myths. They hide out in the vortex and pray on lost time ships, but rarely do they ever travel to planets.”

“We got…bored,” smiled Ethan.

“So you came here because of Matthew, realised that him being here had turned this place into a honey pot teaming with time energy and then used this machine to…what?” he said, indicating it with his hands.

“Mr Blackmore knows what it is.”

“I do?” asked Blackmore, a little confused.

“Ahh,” said the Doctor, nodding in recognition, “Shroud technology?”

“What?” asked Blackmore. “But how?” Blackmore had escaped Trixatin after trying to steal plans for Shroud technology. A tech that helped mask a whole planet by creating a false environment around the original.

“We were watching you,” smiled Emily. “We swooped in and took the plans, modified them and then set up the Shroud here.”

“So you find Matthew, put up the Shroud and only let in time sensitive’s. Blackmore is spinning helplessly through the vortex and is drawn here - like a bee to honey - and then we turn up. In the meantime the entire world is going on around us while we sit in a strange, pocket dimension slightly out of sync with everything else.”

“But those two were able to drive me in,” said Danny, now standing even closer to the Doctor.

“If you know where the doors are then you can get in and out,” said Ethan.

“And the TARDIS obviously is quite an expert in traversing the dimensions,” said the Doctor, leaning against the generator and tutting to himself. “But I drove out of the airport with no problems.”

“It’s not been perfected yet. Unfortunately time sensitive’s can sometimes slip out.”

“I’m getting a little bit lost here,” said Danny, as he tried to edge closer to the Doctor. “There are other people in this airport?”

“Are there?” asked the Doctor, walking over to the machinery and looking it up and down.

“Yes, of course. There’s…” Danny was confused.

“Go on,” said the Doctor.

“There’s June. That woman. The first aider.”

“Ah, yes. There’s June!” said the Doctor, clicking his fingers and pointing at Ethan and Emily.

The two siblings simply smiled.




Caroline and June stood stock still as the drones hovered over to them.

“I don’t know what to do,” said Caroline. She tried to make a move, but the drone’s laser angled itself towards her.

“Just stay still my love,” said June, calmly.

“They’re going to kill us,” said Caroline, trying to remain calm.

“No they won’t,” smiled June.

“What do you mean they won’t?” asked a confused Caroline. “How do you know?”

“Because they need to take us back to their masters.”

Caroline nodded in approval. It was sound reasoning, but then why did they need them alive.

June held her head up and all of a sudden she looked different. Almost like a totally different person. She looked confident. “Take us to your masters.”

“June?”

June turned and smiled at Caroline. “I’m just taking care of a few of our mistakes.”

“Mistakes?”

“These creatures that have set this place up….they need to be stopped. They need to be destroyed. For the good of the Human race.”

Caroline frowned. She’d heard that phrase before.

June extended her hand. “Corporal June Caster of Eyeglass.”

Caroline just frowned.

The Vanishing Man, Chapter 10

Caroline and June had been running for what seemed like ages, but every time they stopped to take a breather, they heard the small, globe-like things not far behind them. Finally they had reached the glass doors to the Raddison hotel, situated within the airport complex.

Caroline was about to continue running when June grabbed her arm. Out of breath she said “Wait. We can hide in here.”

“June, we need to get out of the airport and find the Doctor. God knows where he’s gone.”

“No. No. I can’t run anymore.” She pointed towards the darkened hotel foyer. “We’ll be okay in there. There are rooms. We can hide.”

“But they’ll find us.”

“I can’t run anymore,” she said. “If we run, I’ll not make it.”

Caroline looked back down the sky link corridor. She could hear the buzzing sound getting closer.

“Okay, okay,” said Caroline, crossing to the glass doors. “How do we get in?”

“With this.”

Caroline turned to see June hefting a small fire extinguisher from the side wall.

“Wait!” said Caroline, grabbing June. “We can’t just smash our way in.”

“Why not?” asked June.

“Because…”

“Because of the police? I wouldn’t worry about that now, love.” She jabbed her thumb back in the direction she’d came. “This place has already turned into a madhouse. There’s nobody around.”

“Okay,” said Caroline. “But let me do it. You’re not strong enough.”

Caroline took the fire extinguisher from June and began ramming it against one of the glass doors. Eventually, after about fifteen hits, the glass shattered and a hole was left in the doorway, just big enough for the two woman to clamber through.

“Come on,” said Caroline, helping June through the shattered door.

“They’ll see the smashed glass,” said June, “but hopefully we’ll find a decent enough hiding place in here.”




“I don’t understand,” said Matthew with a confused and worried look on his face. “What do you mean? How can I be you?”

The Doctor walked around the console and sat himself next to Matthew on the sofa. “I’m a Time Lord.”

“A Time Lord?” asked Matthew, not quite understanding, but finding something familiar in the name.

“Yes. An alien from another planet.” He leaned back, interlocking his fingers. “When my body is damaged beyond repair I can regenerate it. My whole body changes, including my personality. It’s like I’m the same person, but I’m not.”

“And how many times have you done this now?”

“Oh, so many I’ve lost count,” said the Doctor, raising his eyebrows. “But it’s something that went a little…wrong this time around.”

“In what way?”

“My friend, Aleena, has been helping me, but my memory keeps failing. I wasn’t sure of the significance of this airport when I first arrived here.”

“Aleena?”

“She found me. I’d just regenerated. It turns out I had landed at Manchester airport in the middle of the night. I was dazed and confused. Aleena took me in. She did some tests on me and discovered that I couldn’t regenerate anymore.”

“So if you were badly injured…?”

“I’d die. Finally.” The Doctor looked a little amused by that thought.

“I’m sorry to hear that, Doctor,” said Matthew, still trying to wrap his head around this.

“The problem I have is that all of the regenerative cells inside my body are gone. Not just dead. They’re actually gone. And my body is constantly dying.”

“Constantly?”

“I’m slowly dying. Aleena’s been trying to find ways to help me, and I’ve been fighting it off with medication and tablets, but in the end I will die. It’s just a matter of time.”

“That still doesn’t give me any answers regarding me,” said Matthew, still unable to take any of this in.

The Doctor got up and crossed over to the console, his hands in his deep pockets.

He span around and pointed directly towards Matthew. “You were born from me. I believe it is you who carries my lost regenerative cells.”

“But-”

“Stop,” said the Doctor, interrupting him. “I know you don’t understand this. But try, Matthew, please.”

“Okay, okay,” said Matthew, rubbing the back of his head, “carry on.”

“When there are complications with a regeneration, or there is a sudden, impending regeneration, a creature called a Watcher appears.”

“Watcher’s and Time Lords? This is getting a bit too much for me.”

“What did I say, Matthew? Just listen.”

The Doctor grabbed an apple from a nearby fruit bowl and bit into it. “A Watcher is there as a sort of lifeline. Like a back-up if anything goes wrong. A future echo of the next incarnation.”

“So, if, say, you were unable to regenerate on your own-”

“-the Watcher would be there to jumpstart me.”

“But how does it know? I mean, how can a Watcher know if something’s not going to work?”

“It’s all time related stuff. What I think happen is this: I landed at the airport, my regeneration failed and this body was already on it’s way out. But the cells had died and I couldn’t regenerate, so the Watcher appeared to kick start my next regeneration. Except Aleena arrived and took me away before the Watcher found me. The Watcher was then left stranded here, at Manchester airport.”

“Couldn’t it have, I don’t know, travelled through time to find you?”

The Doctor sat down on the edge of the console and took another bite of the apple. “Watcher’s can usually traverse space and time, but because this incarnation would have been so brief, the Watcher didn’t have time to fully…” he struggled to find the right words, “…complete itself.”

Matthew nodded and then a frightening thought entered in his head.

“You said I’m a Watcher. Your Watcher?”

The Doctor nodded grimly.

“But…how?”

The Doctor sighed. “Normally a Watcher would look like a white figure with an unformed face. No personality, voice or anything. But if it was left alone for so long, who knows what might have happened to it.” The Doctor looked up at Matthew sadly. “It might even evolve into something more…Human.”



Sometime ago…



The white figure - the Watcher - watched as the blue box dematerialised leaving nothing but darkness and silence. He had one purpose - to help regenerate the Doctor. But the Time Lord had been rescued and whisked away by a blue-skinned woman.

And now he was alone. He attempted to use his powers to move through time and space and catch the time machine, but he had been created so suddenly, that those powers were not yet available to him.

Light’s began to switch on in the large hall in which he was stood. He could hear voices.

And so he disappeared into the shadows and waited…

He wasn’t sure how much time had passed, but it was dark again. “Night time” as someone had called it. He made his way through the hall and into a corridor. It was then that he caught a glimpse of his reflection in a glass pane.

He was pure white and without a face. And somehow this made him feel…sad. An emotion he had never felt before. Indeed, he had never even had emotions before. This was something new and something not quite right.

He continued walking and a strange device whirred over his head. A…camera. That was a word he had heard someone say today. A security camera. He stood for a few minutes watching the camera as it scanned him. And then he moved away.

More time passed…

Everyday people would arrive and pass through. He would hide from them in the shadows, in cupboards, behind doorways. And everyday he felt their influence upon him. He would listen and learn their conversations.

And then the nights would come. One particular night he found himself standing in a bathroom, looking at himself in the mirror. Now he was no longer white. He was a flesh colour. The same colour of the people who passed through the airport. And his clothing was becoming darker. A dark, suit.

More time passed…

He would follow the same procedure each and every day. He would listen and learn, and then check his reflection on the night time. Soon he had forgotten his original purpose. Now all he wanted to do was learn.

Now his reflection was becoming more and more “normal”. He was bald, but he had features on his face. His skin was a full colour and his clothes were complete. Eventually hair appeared. Short, dark hair.

One particular night when he was looking at his reflection, a night cleaner came in and startled him.

“Are you okay?” came the man’s voice. He had an interesting accent.

The Watcher tried to open his mouth, but no words came out.

“Can I help you?” asked the cleaner again.

“…No…” he said. His first ever words, mimicking the man’s accent.

“Are you sure?” asked the cleaner.

“I…am…sure.”

And then he left. What was happening to him? And how much more could he learn?

Over the next few days - at least he thought it was days - he spent his time listening and learning and picking up new things. At one point, he found a suitcase with the name tag “Matthew Cole” on it. He liked that name. And he became Matthew Cole.

But he wanted more answers. As much as he liked soaking up all of this information, Matthew wanted more.

And then he found himself forgetting completely what his previous life had been. He forgot all about being a Watcher. He forgot everything. All he knew was that he was Matthew Cole, had arrived at the airport, and needed to get home. But he couldn’t remember where that home was.

He would wait for hours and hours, just thinking and trying to understand. Soon he would try and leave the airport, to explore the world outside. To try and get home.

He went to Arrivals…and fell asleep…



Now…



The Doctor removed his hands from Matthew’s temples and Matthew sighed.

“Well?”

“I…remember. Sort of.” He rubbed his eyes. “It’s all just a blur.”

“It will be,” said the Doctor, sadly. “It’s only when you awoke in arrivals and tried to leave that yourself as Matthew Cole was completed.”

“But it just sounds so impossible.”

“But it’s true. And the reason you can’t leave is because you are tethered to this place. Your body won’t let you leave, because deep down you know you still have your original job to do.”

“Which is help you to regenerate?”

“Exactly,” said the Doctor, sitting beside him again. “When you grabbed my arm when we first met it was like touching two wires together. The same people touching one another can cause massive disruptions in space and time.”

“And that thing we saw up near the café’s?”

“That was a Dalek. It was something being projected out of your own mind, because I remembered them. And people forget you because as a Watcher you have the ability to alter people’s perceptions. They don’t notice you unless you purposely interact with them. And then they forget. The rest of us - Caroline, me and Blackmore see you because we’ve all travelled through time and space.”

Matthew hung his head and sighed. “I feel so real, though.”

“You are real,” said the Doctor, sadly. “It’s just that you’ve gone on a rather different journey than the rest of us.”

“So what happens now?” said Matthew, a little hopeful that the Doctor wouldn’t ask him to sacrifice himself.

“I’m not sure,” said the Doctor. “We’ll have to take you to Aleena. See if you can still be integrated into me. It might help me grow some new regenerative cells and then kick start my regeneration.”

“Lovely,” said Matthew, sadly.

“But one thing’s for certain,” said the Doctor. “At least I know what I’m going to look like when I do eventually regenerate.”

The Doctor smiled. Matthew didn’t.




Emily and Ethan had gotten out of the car and grabbed Danny. He had been expecting the worst, but instead he was gagged and bundled into the back of their boot.

Now they were driving. He wasn’t sure where they were going and what they were going to do with him when they got to their destination, but he was sure it wasn’t going to be anything very pleasurable.

After a while - Danny had lost all sense of time in the dark car boot - the car parked up and the boot opened.

“Come on,” said Ethan, indicating for him to get himself out of the boot.

Danny mumbled beneath the gag.

“You’re not going to cause us any more problems, are you?” Danny heard Emily say.

Danny didn’t respond. He just frowned. He wasn’t going to provoke them, but he had no intention of staying their prisoner.

“Now get out,” said the old man.

Danny clambered out of the boot and looked around. They were at Manchester airport. Fantastic, thought Danny, I might find the Doctor here.

“Get moving,” said Emily.

Danny turned to look at her. She was leaning against the car, filing her nails. He mumbled.

“What’s that?” asked Ethan.

“Remove the gag,” said Emily, crossing over to him.

Ethan pulled the gag down and Danny savoured the air again.

“Have you got something to say to us?” asked Emily.

“Only that the Doctor will stop you.”

Emily and Ethan both looked at each other, fear in their eyes…and then they both burst out laughing.

“What?” asked Danny. “What have you done to him?”

Emily patted Danny on the top of his head and made her way towards the entrance to T2 departures.

“What?” asked Danny again, as he was marched by Ethan behind Emily.

Danny was escorted through the strangely deserted airport and towards an elevator where two strange, robotic devices were hovering.

“What’s been going on here?” said Emily to the drones, almost like a school teacher scolding children for being naughty.

The drones beeped and whirred a response to her.

“And you didn’t think to stop them?” asked Emily, hands on her hips.

The drones beeped again.

“What’s happened?” asked Ethan.

“These useless devices of yours,” said Emily. “Three of the prisoners got down to the main generator.”

“And the drones didn’t follow?”

Emily shook her head. “You made that area out of bounds, remember? In case they malfunctioned and damaged the machinery.”

“But if they went down there-”

The drones beeped again.

“Problems?” chuckled Danny.

Emily frowned. “Apparently the second unit of drones chased them out, but these two didn’t bother to join the chase.”

“Why not?” frowned Ethan.

“Because one of them is still down there.”